BA 4102 MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS AND

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Unit – III

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR

Meaning - Organisational Behaviour.

• OB is a systematic study of the actions and reactions of individuals, groups and subsystems.

• O.B. is the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about how people- as
individuals and as members of groups –act within organizations. It strives to identify ways in
which people can act more effectively.

• O.B. is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures
have on behaviour within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards
improving an organization‟s effectiveness.

• O.B. is the study and understanding of individual and group behaviour, patterns of structure in
order to help improve organizational performance and effectiveness.

Bases of Organizational Behaviour

1. Psychology: The science or study of individual human behaviour

2. Sociology: The study of group human behaviour

3. Social Psychology: Studies influences of people on one another

4. Anthropology: Study of the human race, and culture

5. Political Science: Behaviour of individuals in political environment.

 Importance Of Organisational Behaviour

1. Understanding the relationship between an organisation and its employees:

The study of Organisational Behaviour helps in the better understanding of the relationship between
an organisation and its employees thereby helping in the development of better Human Resource strategies
in creating a better work environment, employee loyalty and increasing the overall value of the human
capital for the organisation.

2. Motivating employees:

Studying Organisational Behaviour help managers to better understand their employees and
motivate them, applying different motivational tools as per individual requirements resulting in the better
performance of the organisation as a whole.

3. Improving industrial/ labour relations:

Organisational Behaviour help in understanding the cause of a problem, predict its future course and control
its consequences. As a result, managers are able to maintain better relations with their employees by nipping
any problem in the bud.

4. Effective utilisation of Human Resource:

Knowledge of Organisational Behaviour help managers to effectively and efficiently manage their
employees, inspiring and motivating them to higher efficiency and productivity through a better
understanding and analysis of human behaviour.

5. Predicting human behaviour:

This is probably the most important reason for studying Organisational Behaviour in management.
Knowledge of Organisational Behaviour prepares students to become better managers by becoming a
student of human behaviour from a management perspective and thereby contributing to organisational
effectiveness and profitability.

ATTITUDES

• Personality describer the whole person & Attitude determiner the personality.
• It may be defined as a tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards object, people or events.
• Attitude is a state of mind of an individual towards something.
• It remains unchanged for a long period of time unless he is influenced by External forces.
• Attitude is evaluative statements that can be either favourable or unfavourable.

Ex: if person does not like a certain aspect way of job he is said to have a Negative attitude towards
the assignment.
• Feelings and beliefs held by an Individual.
• Way in which an individual organize his perceptions & cognitions attaches to a particular thing.

Three components - ABC Model.

Affect, Behaviour, and Cognition

AFFECTIVE- response is an emotional response that expresses an individual‟s degree of preference
for an entity.

- For an example: from heart, I love my job.

- A component is the person‟s emotions or feelings about object of that attitude.

BEHAVIOURAL – intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioural tendency of an individual.

(Intention to act I am going to get to work early with a smile on my face)
COGNITIVE response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual‟s beliefs
about the object. (From brain- my job is interesting). “C” component include the beliefs, opinions and
information the person has about the object of the attitude.

Sources of Attitudes:

- Attitudes are gained from parents, teachers & members of the peers group. Heredity also
determines his personality & attitudes.
- The child begins his schooling & Interacts with people; his attitudes are influenced by people
whom he admires, respects or fears.
- Individuals are more willing to modify their behaviour & shape their attitude to correct with
the behaviour of people whom they look up to.
- Companies commit with popular personalities. Such as leading actors, cricket players, such
endorsement helps develop a positive attitude towards their products among the public.
- It can be changed by various means, 1 by pervading new Information by involving people in
problem solving.
- Ex: Organisation helps to understand the competitive threats the org facing & makes them
realize the needs for change & organ development
- Both positive & negative

Types of Attitudes:
- Individual may have a member of attitude regarding different aspects of life. But field of OB
focus only on the study of job-related attitudes.
- Focus on 3 Attitudes.
❖ Job satisfaction
❖ Job involvement
❖ Organizational commitment.

Job satisfaction:-
❖ Important widely study of attitudes.
❖ Refers to an individual‟s general attitude towards his or her job.
❖ As the positive emotional state that results when an individual evaluates his job or job
experience.
❖ 3 dimensions of job satisfaction.
❖ Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job. This response can be inferred.
Job Satisfaction is that an Individual driven from his job depends on the extent to which outcomes
meet his expectations. Job satisfaction reflects others attitude of employees.

Ex: Salary power compare to his friends – high satisfaction

- Moderate
- Low level of satisfaction

Determinate of job satisfaction:

According to P.C.Smith, there are 6 job dimensions that represent the most important characteristics
of a job.

The work itself:

Jobs include interesting tasks & provide opportunities to the employees to learn & to shoulder
responsibilities bring more satisfaction.
Pay:
If the compensation he receives for the work he does is comparable to that of others in similar
jobs in the organise employee have a positive Attitude.

Promotion opportunities:
Level of satisfaction will higher in a job that provides him on opportunity to move up in the
organisational hierarchy than in a job.
Supervision:
Employee whose supervision offers him technical help & behavioural support in times of need
will experience more satisfaction in his job.

Co-workers:
Employee will experience a higher level of job satisfaction when his follow workers are
cooperative & able to offer him technical Assistance.

Working conditions:
Good working conditions have a positive impact on job satisfaction.

Outcomes of job satisfaction:

- Find out the impact of employee job satisfaction on organisational effectiveness. Want to
know whether job dissatisfaction would lead to decline in employee output & consequently
organisational performance.
- The outcomes of job satisfaction by studying the relationship b/w job satisfaction & various
other organizational aspects such as productivity turnover absents etc. These relationships are.

Satisfaction & productivity:-

- Assume positive relationship b/w satisfaction & performance. But there is no strong
relationship b/w this factor.
- These are other mediating variable like rewards, incentives that leads to increase in
productivity.
- Suggest, satisfaction may not bring about considerable improvement in individual
performance. It does result in an overall improvement in organisational performance.

Satisfaction & turnover:-

- Moderate relationship b/w high job satisfaction will not eliminate employee turnover. But will
reduce the rate of turnover.
- Dissatisfied employee encourage switching organisation at the slightest opportunities for
better prospects in other organisations. The satisfied employees will consider several aspects
before leaving the organisation. Job tenure [no. Of yrs an employee‟s has worked in a job in
an organisation] another factor that impact on turnover.
- Economic dooming even satisfied employee also may leave their organisation seek better
prospects.

Satisfaction & Absenteeism: [inverse relationship]

A high level of J.S. leads to low absenteeism; & vice versa.
- Other variables such as the extent to which people consider their jobs important have an
impact on absenteeism. The employee who felt that their jobs were important took less more
than other types.

Other effects of jobs satisfaction:

- Employees who are highly satisfied with their jobs have low stress level have less on the job
accidents [mistakes] & fewer grievances.
- They also showed enthusiasm in learning job related tasks. Satisfied employees are help
fellow employees customers & other people in society by undertaking social activities.

Job involvement:-

New concept in field of ob refers to the extent to which a person identifies himself psychologically
with his job actively participates in it, & considers that his performance in the job contributes to his
self-worth.
Employees who are highly involved with their jobs strongly identify themselves with the
kind of work they do & strive to deliver quality work. Work hard to levels of job involvement lead to
lower absenteeism & employee turnover levels.
 Organisational commitment:-
- Refers to an employee‟s satisfaction with a particular organisation & its goals. Who are
highly committed is a strong supporter of the values & goals of the organisation and he want
to strive hard to achieve the goals of the organisation.
- Org. Commitment of an employee is affected by a numbers of personal & organisational
variables.

Personal variables include:

❖ Employee‟s age
❖ No. Of yrs he is working.
❖ Attitude towards his job

Organisation variables include:

❖ Job design & the leadership style of a superior.
❖ Sometimes non-organisation factors influence org. commitments such as the job market & the
opportunities for career options available to the employee.
❖ 3 components model for understand multidimensional nature of org. Commitment.

Affective commitment:-
Concerned with employees emotional attachment & involvement with the organisation.

Continuance commitment:-
Influence by the costs that could accuse to the employee if he leaves the organisation.

Normative commitment:-
Refers to the extent to which an employee feels obligated to continue in the organisation.
Personality
Albert Gordon
“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological system that
determines his unique adjustment to his environment.”

◼ “It is the sum total of ways an individual reacts to and interacts with others.”

◼ Personality is measurable - traits

Personality Determinants
Personality Traits

The Big Five Model

➢ Extroversion

➢ Agreeableness

➢ Conscientiousness

➢ Emotional stability

➢ Openness to experience

The Big Five Model & OB

◼ High relation with job performance
◼ Conscientiousness leads to high level of job knowledge.
◼ Extroverts are good sales persons.
◼ High on agreeableness makes a person good team player.
◼ People are good and quick learners if they are high on openness.

THEORIES ON PERSONALITY

◼ Type Theories
◼ Trait Factor Theory
◼ Psychoanalytic Theory
◼ Socio-psychological Theory
◼ Self Theory

Personality Attributes influencing OB

1. Locus of Control

Internals Vs Externals
Absenteeism
Turnover
Job satisfaction
Job performance

➢ Locus of Control – one‟s perception as to where is his locus of control. The concept was
developed originally Julian Rotter in the 1950s. Do you believe that your destiny is
controlled by yourself or by external forces (such as fate, god, or powerful others)?

Internals – they control what happens to them

Externals – controlled by outside forces (lady luck to chance, fate)
 ➢ Research has found the following trends:

Males tend to be more internal than females

As people get older they tend to become more internal
People higher up in organizational structures tend to be more internal

However, it‟s important to warn people viewing notion that internal is good and external is
bad (two legs well, four legs bad?). There are important complexities to be considered. For
example:

◼ Internals can be psychologically unhealthy and unstable. An internal orientation usually

needs to be matched by competence, self-efficacy and opportunity so that the person is able to
successfully experience the sense of personal control and responsibility.

◼ Overly internal people who lack competence, efficacy and opportunity can become neurotic,
anxious and depressed. In other words, internals need to have a realistic sense of their circle
of influence in order to experience 'success'.

◼ Externals can lead easy-going, relaxed, happy lives.

2. Machiavellianism
High Machs

◼ Pragmatic, manipulative

◼ Emotional distance, persuade others

◼ Believes in ends can justify means, win more

Do high Machs make good employees?

◼ Type of job

◼ Bargaining

◼ Less rules and regulations

3. Self Esteem
High on Self Esteem

• Expectations for success

• Possess ability for success

• Willing to take risks

• Do not seek approval from others on their capabilities

• High on Job Satisfaction

4. Self Monitoring
High on SE

• Expectations for success

• Possess ability for success

• Willing to take risks

• Do not seek approval from others on their capabilities

• High on Job Satisfaction

 5. Risk Taking
Person ability / willingness to take risk

• Decision making quick

• Specific to jobs (stocks) (accounts)

A & B Types of Personality

➔ Type „A‟
◼ Always moving, walking & eating fast

◼ Feel impatient

◼ Strive to do two or more things at once

◼ Cannot cope with leisure time

◼ Obsessed with number; how many, how much they have achieved

Type „B‟
◼ Never suffer from a sense of time urgency

◼ Feel no need to display/discuss their achievements unless required

◼ Play for fun /relaxation

◼ Can relax without guilt

➔ Type „A‟
◼ Suffer high level of stress

◼ Quantity over quality

◼ Time pressure/deadlines

◼ Rarely creative

◼ Poor decision makers

◼ Behavior is easier to predict

➔ Type „B‟
◼ Difficult to predict behavior

◼ Good decision makers

◼ Quality of work

◼ No compromise on health

◼ Wiser than hasty

◼ Creative / innovative solutions to same problem

 Personality-Job Fit

TYPE CHARCTERISTICS OCCUPATION

Realistic Shy, genuine, stable, persistent, Mechanic, machine/drill

conforming, practical operator, farmer
Prefers physical activities

Investigative Analytical, original curious, Biologist, economist,

independent mathematician, news reporter
Thinking, organizing,
understanding
Social Sociable, friendly, cooperative Social worker, teacher,
counselor, clinical psychologist
Helping and developing others

Conventional Conforming, efficient, Accountant, bank teller, file

inflexible clerk, corporate manager
Orderly, rule regulator

Enterprising Self-confident, ambitious, Lawyer, real estate, PR

energetic
Influence others and attain
power

Artistic Imaginative, disorderly, Painter, musicians, interior

idealistic decorator
Ambiguous allow creative
expression

Theories of Motivation

Meaning of Motivation:
A motivation is one’s willingness to push up efforts to accomplish some specific goals.

Definition:

Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or

need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive.

Theories of Motivation:

1) Abraham Maslow‟s “Need Hierarchy Theory” :

One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by
psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from
the lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need
ceases to be a motivator.
As per his theory this needs are :

(i) Physiological needs :

These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine
and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need satisfaction.
Maslow was of an opinion that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to maintain life, no other
motivating factors can work.

(ii) Security or Safety needs :

These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food or
shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm.

(iii) Social needs :

Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to satisfy
their need for affection, acceptance and friendship.

(iv) Esteem needs :

According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held
in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as power,
prestige status and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy
and achievements and external esteem factors such as states, recognition and attention.

(v) Need for self-actualization :

Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to
become what one is capable of becoming, it includes growth, achieving one‟s
potential and self-fulfillment. It is to maximize one‟s potential and to
accomplish something.

2) “Theory X and Theory Y” of Douglas McGregor :

McGregor, in his book “The Human side of Enterprise” states that people inside the organization can
be managed in two ways. The first is basically negative, which falls under the category X and the
other is basically positive, which falls under the category Y. After viewing the way in which the
manager dealt with employees, McGregor concluded that a manager‟s view of the nature of human
beings is based on a certain grouping of assumptions and that he or she tends to mold his or her
behavior towards subordinates according to these assumptions.
Under the assumptions of theory X :

• Employees inherently do not like work and whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it.
• Because employees dislike work, they have to be forced, coerced or threatened with
punishment to achieve goals.
• Employees avoid responsibilities and do not work fill formal directions are issued.
• Most workers place a greater importance on security over all other factors and display little
ambition.

In contrast under the assumptions of theory Y :

• Physical and mental effort at work is as natural as rest or play.

• People do exercise self-control and self-direction and if they are committed to those goals.
• Average human beings are willing to take responsibility and exercise imagination, ingenuity
and creativity in solving the problems of the organization.
• That the way the things are organized, the average human being‟s brainpower is only partly
used.

On analysis of the assumptions it can be detected that theory X assumes that lower-order needs
dominate individuals and theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals. An
organization that is run on Theory X lines tends to be authoritarian in nature, the word “authoritarian”
suggests such ideas as the “power to enforce obedience” and the “right to command.” In contrast
Theory Y organizations can be described as “participative”, where the aims of the organization and of
the individuals in it are integrated; individuals can achieve their own goals best by directing their
efforts towards the success of the organization.

However, this theory has been criticized widely for generalization of work and human behavior.

3) Frederick Herzberg‟s motivation-hygiene theory :

Frederick has tried to modify Maslow‟s need Hierarchy theory. His theory is also known as two-factor
theory or Hygiene theory. He stated that there are certain satisfiers and dissatisfiers for employees at
work. In- trinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with
dissatisfaction. He states that presence of certain factors in the organization is natural and the presence
of the same does not lead to motivation. However, their nonpresence leads to demotivation. In similar
manner there are certain factors, the absence of which causes no dissatisfaction, but their presence has
motivational impact.
Examples of Hygiene factors are :

Security, status, relationship with subordinates, personal life, salary, work conditions, relationship
with supervisor and company policy and administration.

Examples of Motivational factors are :

Growth prospectus job advancement, responsibility, challenges, recognition and achievements.

4) Contributions of Elton Mayo :

The work of Elton Mayo is famously known as “Hawthorne Experiments.” He conducted behavioral
experiments at the Hawthorne Works of the American Western Electric Company in Chicago. He
made some illumination experiments, introduced breaks in between the work performance and also
introduced refreshments during the pause‟s. On the basis of this he drew the conclusions that
motivation was a very complex subject. It was not only about pay, work condition and morale but also
included psychological and social factors. Although this research has been criticized from many
angles, the central conclusions drawn were :

• People are motivated by more than pay and conditions.

• The need for recognition and a sense of belonging are very important.

• Attitudes towards work are strongly influenced by the group.

5) Vroom‟s Valence x Expectancy theory :

The most widely accepted explanations of motivation has been propounded by Victor Vroom. His
theory is commonly known as expectancy theory. The theory argues that the strength of a tendency to
act in a specific way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given
outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual to make this simple, expectancy
theory says that an employee can be motivated to perform better when their is a belief that the better
performance will lead to good performance appraisal and that this shall result into realization of
personal goal in form of some reward. Therefore an employee is :

Motivation = Valence x Expectancy.

The theory focuses on three things :

• Efforts and performance relationship

• Performance and reward relationship
• Rewards and personal goal relationship

This leads us to a conclusion that :

6) The Porter and Lawler Model :

Lyman W. Porter and Edward E. Lawler developed a more complete version of motivation depending
upon expectancy theory.

Actual performance in a job is primarily determined by the effort spent. But it is also affected by the
person‟s ability to do the job and also by individual‟s perception of what the required task is. So
performance is the responsible factor that leads to intrinsic as well as extrinsic rewards. These
rewards, along with the equity of individual leads to satisfaction. Hence, satisfaction of the individual
depends upon the fairness of the reward.

7) Clayton Alderfer‟s ERG Theory :

Alderfer has tried to rebuild the hierarchy of needs of Maslow into another model named ERG i.e.
Existence – Relatedness – Growth. According to him there are 3 groups of core needs as mentioned
above. The existence group is concerned mainly with providing basic material existence. The second
group is the individuals need to maintain interpersonal relationship with other members in the group.
The final group is the intrinsic desire to grow and develop personally. The major conclusions of this
theory are :

1. In an individual, more than one need may be operative at the same time.
2. If a higher need goes unsatisfied than the desire to satisfy a lower need intensifies.
3. It also contains the frustration-regression dimension.

8) McClelland‟s Theory of Needs :

David McClelland has developed a theory on three types of motivating needs :

1. Need for Power

2. Need for Affiliation
3. Need for Achievement

Basically people for high need for power are inclined towards influence and control. They like to be at
the center and are good orators. They are demanding in nature, forceful in manners and ambitious in
life. They can be motivated to perform if they are given key positions or power positions.

In the second category are the people who are social in nature. They try to affiliate themselves with
individuals and groups. They are driven by love and faith. They like to build a friendly environment
around themselves. Social recognition and affiliation with others provides them motivation.
People in the third area are driven by the challenge of success and the fear of failure. Their need for
achievement is moderate and they set for themselves moderately difficult tasks. They are analytical in
nature and take calculated risks. Such people are motivated to perform when they see atleast some
chances of success.

McClelland observed that with the advancement in hierarchy the need for power and achievement
increased rather than Affiliation. He also observed that people who were at the top, later ceased to be
motivated by this drives.

9 ) Equity Theory :

As per the equity theory of J. Stacey Adams, people are motivated by their beliefs about the reward
structure as being fair or unfair, relative to the inputs. People have a tendency to use subjective
judgment to balance the outcomes and inputs in the relationship for comparisons between different
individuals. Accordingly :

If people feel that they are not equally rewarded they either reduce the quantity or quality of work or
migrate to some other organization. However, if people perceive that they are rewarded higher, they
may be motivated to work harder.

10) Reinforcement Theory :

B.F. Skinner, who propounded the reinforcement theory, holds that by designing the environment
properly, individuals can be motivated. Instead of considering internal factors like impressions,
feelings, attitudes and other cognitive behavior, individuals are directed by what happens in the
environment external to them. Skinner states that work environment should be made suitable to the
individuals and that punishments actually leads to frustration and de-motivation. Hence, the only way
to motivate is to keep on making positive changes in the external environment of the organization.

11) Goal Setting Theory of Edwin Locke :

Instead of giving vague tasks to people, specific and pronounced objectives, help in achieving them
faster. As the clearity is high, a goal orientation also avoids any misunderstandings in the work of the
employees. The goal setting theory states that when the goals to be achieved are set at a higher
standard than in that case employees are motivated to perform better and put in maximum effort. It
revolves around the concept of “Self-efficacy” i.e. individual‟s belief that he or she is capable of
performing a hard task.
12) Cognitive Evaluation Theory :

As per these theory a shift from external rewards to internal rewards results into motivation. It
believes that even after the stoppage of external stimulus, internal stimulus survives. It relates to the
pay structure in the organization. Instead of treating external factors like pay, incentives, promotion
etc and internal factors like interests, drives, responsibility etc, separately, they should be treated as
contemporary to each other. The cognition is to be such that even when external motivators are not
there the internal motivation continues. However, practically extrinsic rewards are given much more
weightage.
Communication

Communication:-
➢ The transfer & understanding of meaning → Robbins.
➢ The process f meaningful interaction among people in an organisation. It is the process by
which meanings are presented & understandings are reached among human beings.
➢ Process of passing information and understanding from of person to another. Process of
importing ideas & making oneself understood by others.

Function of communication:-
1) Control
2) Motivation
3) Emotional Expression
4) Information

Control:-
Communication acts to control member‟s behaviour in several ways.
➢ Formal control: to main hierarchy among are job related to any grievant to their immediate
boss follow their job description.

Motivation:-
What is to be done?
➢ How well they are doing what can be done to improve performance.
Towards goals, effect of feedback.

Emotional Expression:-
Group fundamental source is social interaction.
➢ Communication provides a release for the emotional expression of feelings for fulfilment of
social needs.

Information:-
Transmission of information.
➢ Communication performance relates to its role in facilitating decision making. It provides
information that individuals & group need to make decision by transmitting the data to
identify & evaluate alterative choices.

Communication Process:-

Message sent → Encoding → Channel → Message Receive → Decoding

N
o
is
Noise
e

Feedback
Steps between sources and receiver that result in transfer and understanding of meaning.

Formal channel→establish by organisation to transmit message to professional activities.

Informal channel→individual choice

Directions of Communication:

Downward
Flow of authority, Maintenance of hierarchy, Reasoning, Memo

Upward
Feedback, report submission, request, permission

Lateral
Communication among same work group

INTERPERRSONAL COMMUNICATION:

➢ Oral communication
Speech. Formal one – to- one and group discussion.

Advantage:
Best way to get information from and to employees.

Disadvantage:
If a one way communication, when it reach to destination, very different from its original.

➢ Written communication:
All memos, letters, fax, emails, text messages, magazines, notices and reports. These all are used as a
record of communication and evidence, reference. It should be clear.

Disadvantage
1. Time consuming, 2. Language barriers, 3. No feedback.

➢ Non- verbal

Body language and sign boards are called non-verbal communication.

Advantage
Quick feedback

Disadvantage
Cultural difference, no universal meaning for body language.

Organisational communication

1. Chain

2. Wheel

3. Network
Criteria Chain wheel Network

Speed Moderate Fast Fast

Accuracy High High Moderate

Emergence leader Moderate High None

Member satisfaction Moderate Low High

Grapevine
It is an informal way of communication.

Electronic Communication
E-mail, text message, network software (Orkut, face book), web blogs, Tele/ video conference.

Control
It is a process of monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and of
correcting any significance deviation.

Process of control
Measure → measure present performance. Monitoring and evaluation

Compare → effect of measurement range of variation. Goal Vs Performance.

Managerial actions → correct actual performance. Revise standard one.